Armscor discloses alarming R7. 7 billion budget shortfall impacting South African Air Force maintenance
President Cyril Ramaphosa walking from the presidential jet, which, Armscor says, apparently requires R414 million in funding to be fully maintained.
Image: GCIS
Armscor, the arms procurement agency for the South African Defence Department, has revealed to Parliament that a staggering budget shortfall of more than R7 billion threatens the maintenance of the South African Air Force (SAAF) aircraft fleet.
This happens as the acquisition and maintenance contracts have not been adequately funded for a long time.
In a presentation to the Joint Standing Committee on Defence on the status of maintenance contracts of the SAAF aircraft fleet, Armscor said all SAAF platforms for contracting were in place.
It also said that the majority of the contracts have spent 100% of their planned cash flow.
'There is a shortfall of approximately R7,7 billion to fund the current fleet. If you average it in terms of an annual basis, it is R2.56 billion, and this implies that the SAAF maintenance is currently at two to three times less than we are currently funded.'
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MPs also heard that the implications of the budget shortfall were a reduced fleet availability, and only bare minimum maintenance was done, with essential upgrades postponed, leading to high maintenance costs.
'Armscor is confined to place on-demand contracts. Only the very bare minimum is contracted, and this does not guarantee aircraft availability.'
In a clear show of the seriousness of the budget shortfall, the Boeing Business Jet, which President Cyril Ramaphosa travels in, requires R414 million in funding to be fully maintained.
The three Falcon aircraft, which Deputy President Paul Mashatile travels in, require R142m to be fully maintained.
The 11 Rooivalk combat support helicopters require a massive R2 billion, while the 36 Oryx transport helicopters need R2bn.
Armscor said the Rooivalk maintenance contract was R2.5bn, but it was funded to the tune of R469m.
Earlier, the Acting Executive Manager for the Dockyard Justice, Ramakokovhu, told the MPs that the Naval Dockyard has 286 technical personnel and suffers from deteriorating infrastructure.
'The 286 technical skills are not sufficient to support the maintenance and upkeep of the South African Navy,' said Ramakokovhu, adding that they required a staff complement of 4,000.
The refit of submarine SAS Isandlwana was contracted to a service provider and was conducted in Durban.
The ANC MP Pitso Noe said the issue of funding was central to the challenges at Armscor.
Noe asked that Defence Minister Angie Motshekga give an account on all the lack of funding and its impact.
'I consider it so serious to the functioning of Armscor and the defence of the country,' he said.
DA MP Nicholas Gotsell said it was shocking that Armscor spent R10m as disclosed by Motshekga in a response to a parliamentary question on the board when there was a R7.7 budget shortfall for the air force.
'It is very worrying. We won't accept the lavish boardroom spending while the aircraft are on the verge of being mothballed and the Rooivalk helicopter is barely operational,' Gotsell.
'I am really worried and concerned about the abuse of taxpayers' funds. Armscor can't justify the R10m on board perks when SANDF is forced to cut pilot training hours due lack of fuel and spares,' he said.
DA MP Chris Hattingh said the presentations confirmed what they had suspected all along.
'We need to agree that without the reassessment of the defence review, it is impossible to determine what should be the priorities of spending in the limited budget of the Department of Defence,' Hattingh said.
IFP MP Russel Cebekhulu said it was God's mercy that South Africa was not attacked from the outside.
'One is at pains with what has been presented before us, with lots of excuses for the failure of our defence equipment in the Navy and Air Force, not being in a workable state of the fleet,' Cebekhulu said.
ANC MP Malusi Gigaba said what they heard was expression of a horror story.
Gigaba echoed Hattingh's sentiments on the need for a defence review and the need to address the ongoing challenges.
'If we don't deal with these things, we are to remain in the situation we are in. We can't be the one who laments the ongoing decay that we are seeing without taking firm decisions,' he said.
Motshekga said the defence force was in constant discussion on how to deal with the challenges.
'We acknowledge the challenges, and there are efforts on the part of Armscor to get things right,' she said.
Motshekga also said they were planning to hold a meeting to plan on cost-saving measures.
mayibongwe.maqhina@inl.co.za
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